smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

 I am a big fan of awards. If you can win or get short-listed in any reasonably well respected award categories, it is one of the most cost effective forms of promotion. Your partner is talking nonsense. If businesses have won an award and then gone to fail, that should encourage you as to how easy it can be to get short-listed! Whether you go under or not is clearly nothing to do with whether you enter/win an award. If you do get shortlisted or win, put this on your email signature (and that of all your staff), on your website, possibly on letterheads. Use it to get trade press coverage although you’ll probably get picked up by journalists for stories anyway. To improve your chances of winning, get help and input from a PR agency or talk to other businesses you might know who have done it before. Address the exact criteria they mention. The judges will read entries like employers read CVs: fast and furious. Use bullet points and headings. Include testimonials and endorsements from customers, suppliers, local government bodies and anyone else who is willing to praise your company. Also include press/media coverage clippings or press releases. Use statistics and numbers to illustrate accomplishments and don’t be modest!